Monday, June 25, 2007

Chinese Bid For Africa Could Have Substantial Trickle Down Effect

In the case of Angola, which is the second-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan African, it now exports about 25 percent of the 2 million barrels a day it produces to China. It is estimated that Angola has attracted more than $20 billion in foreign direct investment for its oil and gas industries since 2003, the bulk of it from China. Beijing in turn has provided more than $2 billion in loans and grants to the country including building roads, schools, hospitals and other facilities that Chinese state enterprises excel at constructing.Still, there are risks for African countries relying too heavily on Chinese aid, especially for the poorest people of the continent, Dollar said. In particular, he pointed to the possibility of corruption between the Chinese government and their African counterparts, a concern echoed by Georgetown's Madavo.